3 hurt after boat with 22 people aboard catches fire in Long Island Sound, FDNY says
A Bronx man faces charges after a boat fire sent nearly two dozen people into the water Saturday night off Hart Island, including three who had to be rescued by the FDNY, authorities said.
The FDNY's marine unit pulled three people from the water, according to a briefing by FDNY Assistant Chief Michael Meyers. The other passengers swam to Hart Island. They were taken to the City Island Yacht Club by the Coast Guard, FDNY and NYPD boats, where EMS paramedics assessed them, authorities said.
One seriously injured passenger was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in the Bronx, and 19 were taken to area hospitals with "non-life-threatening injuries."
The FDNY’s Marine 6, based in Brooklyn, extinguished the fire, which is under investigation, the FDNY said.
Joshua Brito, 33, of the Bronx, who police said was operating the boat, was charged with driving while intoxicated and reckless endangerment in connection with the incident, according to the NYPD. Further details were unavailable.
The boat with 22 people aboard caught fire off the east end of Hart Island, across a narrow stretch of water from City Island in the Bronx, around 8 p.m., Meyers said.
Hart Island is across Long Island Sound from Kings Point in Nassau County and just east of City Island. It is the final resting place for more than 1 million people who died indigent, anonymous or whose bodies were unclaimed. The cemetery dates to the American Civil War and is now maintained by New York City's parks and social services departments.
All three of the people rescued from the water, including one with serious injuries, were among those who were taken to hospitals, Meyers said.
FDNY Assistant Chief Mike Meyers speaks reporters about a boat fire between the Bronx and Long Island on Saturday evening. Credit: /Peter Gerber
"Hopefully, they'll pull through," Meyers said. "The other 19 people were able to swim to shore, onto Hart Island, where they were transported by [the NYPD], Coast Guard and FDNY units to the boat basin here on City Island, where we're able to get them to be evaluated."
Details were scant, but Meyers said fire officials noticed the vessel earlier in the evening.
"The boat, in order to fit that many people on, it had to be a pretty decent-sized boat. [The crew of the FDNY boat] Marine Four did notice them earlier in the evening, and they said that there was a lot of people on that boat earlier before they arrived on scene," he said.
